Active Questions

Unexplained time loss. Not A Joke..

Have you have you ever had one of those blank moments and don't know where the time went?

Only once for me. Many years ago, I was leaving to drive to work, I had just backed out of my driveway, at 1.40am, wide awake and the next thing, I remember was Pulling into the parking lot at work. 40 Minutes Unexplained. Creepy.

Yes, this has happened to me and to many people. What can happen is that you can go into what is known as an alpha wave state, which is a highly relaxed state, sometimes referred to (inaccurately) as a self-hypnotic trance.

In an alpha wave state, you will be able to successfully complete rote tasks, such as driving. In fact, many people who drive long distances and daydream while they drive find themselves arriving at destinations without being able to consciously recall the drive or become aware that they are a considerable distance along their route and can't recall how they got that far (blessedly safely).

While it certainly can be scary when this happens, many people that experience this also report that after one of these "spells", they are more productive, creative, think more clearly, and are on top of their game.

Artists (like me) often induce an alpha wave state by meditating before beginning work. Once I stop meditating and begin work, I find that this brief relaxation exercise has jump-started my creativity and I am much more productive and my creations are much more beautiful.

But like you, it has happened to me in the car and THAT does creep me out.

I have done that too many times. Coming home from a high-stress day, about a 40 minute drive, I would get home and realize I didn't remember the trip home; no details, none of the stop-lights, nothing. Someone suggested it was caused by the sudden drop in adrenaline level after work... maybe so.

I had that happen once too. Drove home from college during the night, and I was more tired than I realized. There was about a 200 mile stretch that I didn't remember driving at all. It was pretty alarming.
Next thing I knew I was pulling off the highway one mile from the house. As you said it was pretty creepy.